Many individuals, particularly when they are at home, require some kind of “quiet time” during which no one disturbs them. For example, a parent with a sick child may wish that no one would call when the child is taking a nap. However, it seems that invariably the telephone would ring during the quiet time. Most individuals respond by unplugging the telephone, turning the ringer off altogether, or subscribing to a Do Not Disturb (DND) service provided by their telephone companies. Although these solutions are effective in prevent the telephone from ringing, the solutions also create new problems. For example, many telephone users often forget to reconnect the telephone, turn the ringer back on, or deactivate the DND service when their need for the quiet time is over. As a result, these users would miss many potentially important calls both during and after the quiet time.
Accordingly, there is a need for a telephone service that would allow telephone users to prevent their telephone from ringing, but would deactivate the service automatically upon expiration of the quiet time without further action from the telephone users.